Mesoarchean Microbial Cd, Ba, and Ni Cycling: Evidence for Photosynthesis in Pongola Group Stromatolites through Novel Stable Isotopes and High-Resolution Trace Element Maps.

Nontraditional stable isotopes of bioactive metals emerged as novel proxies for reconstructing the biogeochemical cycling of metals, which serve as cofactors in major metabolic pathways. The fractionation of metal isotopes between ambient fluid and microorganisms is ultimately recorded in authigenic minerals, such as carbonates, which makes them potentially more reliable than standard biomarkers in organic matter. Stromatolitic carbonates are geochemical archives that allow for the study of the long-term interplay of the biosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere through deep time, with the unique potential to investigate early life environments and the evolution of the metallome.

Multiple origins of dorsal ecdysial sutures in trilobites and their relatives.

Euarthropods are an extremely diverse phylum in the modern, and have been since their origination in the early Palaeozoic. They grow through moulting the exoskeleton (ecdysis) facilitated by breaking along lines of weakness (sutures). Artiopodans, a group that includes trilobites and their non-biomineralizing relatives, dominated arthropod diversity in benthic communities during the Palaeozoic.

Interspecific and Intraspecific Transcriptomic Variations Unveil the Potential High-Altitude Adaptation Mechanisms of the Butterfly Species.

butterflies have significantly advanced our understanding of biogeography, insect-plant interactions, and other fields of ecology and evolutionary biology. However, to date, little is known about the gene expression patterns related to the high-altitude adaptation of species. In this study, we obtained high-throughput RNA-seq data of 48 adult individuals covering 10 species from 12 localities in China, and deciphered their interspecific and intraspecific expression patterns based on comparative transcriptomic analyses.

Cambrian euarthropod sheds light on the origin of Artiopoda body plan.

The origin and evolution of trilobated body plan of the Artiopoda, a group of epibenthic euarthropods from Cambrian Lagerstätten, remain unclear. Here we examine old and new specimens of , one of euarthropods from the Chengjiang biota, revealing new morphological details and revising its taxonomy. possesses an elongate body with a five-segmented head, a thorax with 13-15 tergites, and a three-segmented pygidium with well-defined axial region.

Host genetics and larval host plant modulate microbiome structure and evolution underlying the intimate insect-microbe-plant interactions in species on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Insects harbor a remarkable diversity of gut microbiomes critical for host survival, health, and fitness, but the mechanism of this structured symbiotic community remains poorly known, especially for the insect group consisting of many closely related species that inhabit the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Here, we firstly analyzed population-level 16S rRNA microbial dataset, comprising 11 species covering 5 subgenera, from 14 populations mostly sampled in mountainous regions across northwestern-to-southeastern China, and meanwhile clarified the relative importance of multiple factors on gut microbial community structure and evolution. Our findings indicated that both host genetics and larval host plant modulated gut microbial diversity and community structure.

New stem-anisopteran dragonflies in the Jurassic of China (Odonata: Epiproctophora).

The odonatan asiopterid Turanopteron sinensis sp. nov. and the juragomphid Oxfordgomphus trescellulae gen.

Dispersal from the Qinghai-Tibet plateau by a high-altitude butterfly is associated with rapid expansion and reorganization of its genome.

Parnassius glacialis is a typical "Out of the QTP" alpine butterfly that originated on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) and dispersed into relatively low-altitude mountainous. Here we assemble a chromosome-level genome of P. glacialis and resequence 9 populations in order to explore the genome evolution and local adaptation of this species.

Comparative transcriptome analysis reveals deep molecular landscapes in stony coral clade.

Coral reefs, among the most invaluable ecosystems in the world, face escalating threats from climate change and anthropogenic activities. To decipher the genetic underpinnings of coral adaptation and resilience, we undertook comprehensive transcriptome profiling of two emblematic coral species, and , leveraging PacBio Iso-Seq technology. These species were strategically selected for their ecological significance and their taxonomic proximity within the Anthozoa class.

Bird clades with less complex appendicular skeletons tend to have higher species richness.

Species richness is strikingly uneven across taxonomic groups at all hierarchical levels, but the reasons for this heterogeneity are poorly understood. It is well established that morphological diversity (disparity) is decoupled from taxonomic diversity, both between clades and across geological time. Morphological complexity has been much less studied, but there is theory linking complexity with differential diversity across groups.

A New Fossil Species of from the Mula Basin, Litang County, Sichuan Province and Its Paleoclimate and Paleoecology Significance.

In this paper, we describe a new fossil species, Nothotsuga mulaensis Z. Li & J.L.

Mineral chemistry and 3D tomography of a Chang'E 5 high-Ti basalt: implication for the lunar thermal evolution history.

In December 2020, Chang'E-5 (CE-5), China's first lunar sample return mission, successfully collected samples totaling 1731 g from the northern Oceanus Procellarum. The landing site was located in a young mare plain, a great distance from those of Apollo and Luna missions. These young mare basalts bear critical scientific significance as they could shed light on the nature of the lunar interior (composition and structure) as well as the recent volcanism on the Moon.

Ancestral body plan and adaptive radiation of sauropterygian marine reptiles.

Sauropterygia is the most diversified and dominant clade among marine reptiles, but their early evolution is scarcely understood. Here we report the earliest known complete specimen related to sauropterygians from the Early Triassic. It is referred to by an exclusive combination of features and shows mosaic morphology integrating the characters of multiple sauropterygian sub-lineages.

Asynchronized cell division in embryo-like fossils from the Ediacaran Zhenba microfossil assemblage.

Ediacaran embryo-like spherical fossils exhibit diverse cell adhesion patterns resembling partial cleavage-stage embryos of living animals. Two three-celled specimens characterized by a pair of small cells overlying a large cell have been recovered from the Ediacaran Zhenba microfossil assemblage. Their cell adhesion pattern is highly comparable to a phenomenon reported from the Weng'an biota that was interpreted as fossil embryos undergoing discoidal cleavage.

Middle Miocene lotus (Nelumbonaceae, ) from the Qaidam Basin, Northern Tibet Plateau.

The Neogene environment and paleovegetation of today’s semi-arid and arid Central Asia remain elusive. Little is known about the effect of paleoclimatic change on the distribution and ecological response mechanisms of aquatic plants, especially on the Tibetan Plateau. Here, we report a new species of Nelumbo Adanson, including leaves, receptacles, and fruits, namely Nelumbo delinghaensis sp.

Provenance of Anthropogenic Pb and Atmospheric Dust to Northwestern North America.

Industrial activities release aerosols containing toxic metals into the atmosphere, where they are transported far from their sources, impacting ecosystems and human health. Concomitantly, long-range-transported mineral dust aerosols play a role in Earth's radiative balance and supply micronutrients to iron-limited ecosystems. To evaluate the sources of dust and pollutant aerosols to Alaska following the 2001 phase-out of leaded gasoline in China, we measured Pb-Sr-Nd isotopic compositions of particles collected in 2016 from snow pits across an elevational transect (2180-5240 m-a.

Phylogeny and Biogeographic History of Butterflies (Papilionidae: Parnassiinae) Reveal Their Origin and Deep Diversification in West China.

We studied 239 imagoes of 12 species collected from the mountains of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) and its neighbouring areas in China. We selected three mitochondrial gene (, , and ) sequences, along with the homologous gene sequences of other species from GenBank, to reconstruct the phylogenetic tree and biogeographic history of this genus. Our results show that comprises eight monophyletic subgenera, with subgenus at the basal position; the genus crown group originated during the Middle Miocene (ca.

Binding Pattern Reconstructions of FGF-FGFR Budding-Inducing Signaling in Reef-Building Corals.

Reef-building corals play an important role in marine ecosystems. However, owing to climate change, ocean acidification, and predation by invasive crown-of-thorns starfish, these corals are declining. As marine animals comprise polyps, reproduction by asexual budding is pivotal in scleractinian coral growth.

Developmental dynamics is revealed in the early Cambrian arthropod .

Segmentation and tagmatization have contributed to the preeminent success of arthropods since their first appearance in the Cambrian. However, the exact mechanism of segmentogenesis is still insufficiently known in living and extinct groups. Here, we describe the postembryonic development of a Waptiid arthropod from the early Cambrian Chengjiang biota, South China.

Miocene Diversification and High-Altitude Adaptation of Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae) in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Revealed by Large-Scale Transcriptomic Data.

The early evolutionary pattern and molecular adaptation mechanism of alpine butterflies to high altitudes in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau are poorly understood up to now, due to difficulties in sampling, limited sequence data, and time calibration issues. Here, we present large-scale transcriptomic datasets of eight representative species to reveal the phylogenetic timescale and potential genetic basis for high-altitude adaptation with multiple analytic strategies using 476 orthologous genes. Our phylogenetic results strongly supported that the subgenus formed a well-resolved basal clade, and the subgenera and were closely related in the phylogenetic trees.

Confirmation of ovarian follicles in an enantiornithine (Aves) from the Jehol biota using soft tissue analyses.

The remains of ovarian follicles reported in nine specimens of basal birds represents one of the most remarkable examples of soft-tissue preservation in the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota. This discovery was immediately contested and the structures alternatively interpreted as ingested seeds. Fragments of the purported follicles preserved in an enantiornithine (STM10-12) were extracted and subjected to multiple high-resolution analyses.

Comparative transcriptomic analysis of fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) to explore the molecular adaptations to fresh water.

Aquatic insects are well adapted to freshwater environments, but the molecular basis of these adaptations remains largely unknown. Most firefly species (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) are terrestrial, but the larvae of several species are aquatic. Here, larval and adult transcriptomes from Aquatica leii (freshwater) and Lychnuris praetexta (terrestrial) were generated to test whether the genes associated with metabolic efficiency and morphology have undergone adaptive evolution to fresh water.

Major Revisions in Arthropod Phylogeny Through Improved Supermatrix, With Support for Two Possible Waves of Land Invasion by Chelicerates.

Deep phylogeny involving arthropod lineages is difficult to recover because the erosion of phylogenetic signals over time leads to unreliable multiple sequence alignment (MSA) and subsequent phylogenetic reconstruction. One way to alleviate the problem is to assemble a large number of gene sequences to compensate for the weakness in each individual gene. Such an approach has led to many robustly supported but contradictory phylogenies.

The Early Ediacaran Caveasphaera Foreshadows the Evolutionary Origin of Animal-like Embryology.

The Ediacaran Weng'an Biota (Doushantuo Formation, 609 Ma old) is a rich microfossil assemblage that preserves biological structure to a subcellular level of fidelity and encompasses a range of developmental stages [1]. However, the animal embryo interpretation of the main components of the biota has been the subject of controversy [2, 3]. Here, we describe the development of Caveasphaera, which varies in morphology from lensoid to a hollow spheroidal cage [4] to a solid spheroid [5] but has largely evaded description and interpretation.